Raising Reyes
by TrthIsOutThere
Summary: Special Agent Monica Reyes is a pretty cool character and I wish the writers had been able to develop her more. They couldn't, so I'm doing it for them. Since Monica is so quirky, expect a little bit of humor to come out of this.


Title: Raising Reyes

Disclaimer: Same. I own nothing.

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_**April 16, 1963 1:27 AM  
**__**San Antonio, Texas  
**__**University Hospital**_

Isabel Delgado de Reyes ran through the emergency entrance and straight to the main desk. Her young son and husband were several moments behind her, unable to keep up with her pace after she had sprang from the car as soon as it was parked. They had taken the first flight available from Mexico City to San Antonio upon receiving the emergency call several hours before, barely wasting time on packing. "My sister," she begged, her accent barely perceptible. "Where is she? Eva Vega."

The impossibly young receiving nurse looked up from the book she was reading and flipped through the charts on the desk in front of her. "I have an Eva Kristina Delgado-Soto," she said, raising an eyebrow at Isabel. "Is that correct?"

Isabel nodded. "She should have been admitted with her husband, Luis Vega-Vivaldi."

The young, blond nurse pulled a second chart from her pile and paused as she flipped them open. Her name tag claimed that her name was Lucy. A look of recognition crossed her eyes as she remembered the couple that had been wheeled into triage six hours before. "Er…who are you?" she asked hesitantly.

"Isabel Reyes," Isabel said. "I was phoned several hours ago and told that there had been a terrible accident."

"Mrs. Reyes…" Lucy said. Her eyes were apologetic and Isabel felt her heart being squeezed in a vice. "Let me get the doctor for you."

Isabel nodded as Lucy disappeared down a hallway behind the desk and she silently cursed living so far away from her younger sister. Isabel and Eva had attended school, both studying to be teachers at the University of Houston at Austin. Their parents were from Mexico, but had immigrated to Corpus Christi right after Isabel was born. The only reason ever Isabel returned to Mexico was because her husband, Blas Reyes-Colón, an immigrant from Spain, worked for the U.S. Department of State and was stationed in the American Embassy in Mexico City. Eva had stayed in Texas, eventually getting a job at an elementary school in San Antonio where she met Luis, a local private _abogado defensor_ who practiced with a local law firm. They had barely been married two years.

Blas had finally caught up to Isabel, the groggy form of their four year old son, Roman, resting his head on Blas's shoulder. "Isa," he said quietly, jarring her out of her thoughts. "Isa, _¿__qué pasó_?"

Isabel shook her head, worry lines etching her forehead. "They went to get the doctor."

"What time was your parents' flight arriving?" Blas asked. His accent was more apparent than hers.

Her parents had relocated from Corpus Christi to Chula Vista, California while Eva was still in school. Isabel eyed the clock on the wall. "Forty-five minutes."

Before Blas could ask her anything else, Lucy returned with a doctor in tow. He had haphazardly covered his scrubs in a white coat, but there was no hiding the blood stains on his blue surgical scrubs beneath. He was young, sleep deprived, probably recently graduated from med school and given the crappy nighttime watch. "Mrs. Reyes?" he asked cautiously.

"Yes, I'm Isabel Reyes," Isabel said, turning fully toward the doctor and feeling Blas's supportive hand sliding across her lower back.

"I'm Doctor Hensley," he said. "I was overseeing the work on your sister and her husband."

"What's happened to my sister, Doctor Hensley?"

The doctor hesitated. "Mrs. Reyes, I…I'm sorry."

Isabel felt the tears gathering at the corners of her eyes and Blas wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "What happened?" she asked quietly.

"Luis and Eva are in critical condition right now. They were brought in after a semi truck collided with them. The driver…the driver hadn't taken his required break and he fell asleep. Luis's vitals refused to stabilize and Eva isn't doing much better. I have most of my staff tending to them right now."

"Can I see them?" Isabel asked. Maybe her presence would elicit some magical healing powers. Her sister was a fighter, she would pull through. Right?

The doctor considered her request for several long moments before nodding. "Briefly, but I want you to know what you're going into." Isabel nodded, hugging Blas tighter. "They are both on life support. They're going to be attached to several tubes and they were beat up pretty bad in the accident. Are you sure you want to do this?"

Isabel looked up at Blas. "Take Roman and wait for my parents at the airport."

"¿_Vas a estar bien por ti misma_?" Blas asked.

Isabel nodded. "I'll be okay."

Blas paused before nodding and planting a kiss on her forehead and walking back through the emergency entrance. Isabel nodded to the doctor and he led her back to the emergency surgical recovery suite. She took a deep breath as the doors opened in front of her. It took a moment as her eyes adjusted to the dim light. The suite was quiet aside from the bustle occurring around two beds on the far end of the room. A curtain had been drawn around the individuals on the beds to keep anyone passing by from seeing the carnage behind them. She could hear heart monitors beeped erratically side-by-side and two breathing machines hissed as their hydraulics pumped oxygen in and out of the lifeless bodies before her. Doctor Hensley waited by the curtain. "Whenever you're ready," he said.

Isabel nodded. He pulled the curtain back and she stepped through finally seeing the mangled mess of her brother-in-law. It was obvious that the truck hit on his side. Isabel slid the stained blanket back and found his hand. She slid her thin, trembling fingers into his hand and hot tears cascaded over her cheeks before her brain was able to register what she was seeing. "Oh, Luis…" she whispered. "Look at you. What _happened_?" She turned to Eva and bent over her sister's frail body, brushing stray strands of hair out off of her sister's forehead and finding her hand beneath the blanket. "Hold on, Evacita. You can pull through this," Isabel whispered. "Don't give up yet." The tears poured down her face as she sobbed. Several minutes later, a nurse pulled a chair between the beds.

Isabel sat and held both their hands, slowly drifting off to the sound of the heart monitors, only to be roused unceremoniously by the shrill noise of a monitor flat-lining. Doctor Hensley and three nurses rushed into the room to Luis's bed. The nurse that had brought the chair immediately ushered Isabel out of the way and pulled the curtain closed. The medical staff spoke quietly to each other, working swiftly to re-stabilize Luis's vitals. Isabel was paralyzed, only able to stand and listen and hope that a miracle would happen. The heart monitor continued to wail its alert for several minutes and then was suddenly joined by another high-pitched squeal from the monitor beside it.

"Someone get more staff back here!" Doctor Hensley called, as he ran to the other bed.

A nurse rushed past Isabel, who stood helplessly to the side, still unable to move. The nurse returned a moment later with several more emergency staff. One nurse appeared at Isabel's side and tugged gently on her elbow. "Mrs. Reyes, I think you should come with me." Isabel didn't respond, but numbly went with the gentle tug on her elbow. The nurse pulled her out of the recovery suite and shut the door. Several long, agonizing minutes past before the monitors cut off causing Isabel's knees to feel like jelly and sending hot tears streaming down her face again. Doctor Hensley appeared in front of her and she pleaded silently against all odds that his news was good.

"Mrs. Reyes, I'm sorry," he said. "We did all that we could. They arrived here already suffering significant blood loss and internal bleeding. I'm…I'm sorry."

"No," Isabel denied. "No, that can't be right. Something is wrong with the machines? That _can't_ be right!" A nurse appeared beside her and pulled her close as she broke down into sobs. "It's not right, it's not right…" she said over and over again. Doctor Hensley squeezed her shoulder.

"Alex," the nurse whispered. Hensley looked over at her. "Did you ask her?"

Hensley's eyebrows lifted and he shook his head. "Isabel? Isabel, I know that what you're going through is terrible, but I need to ask you something. As soon as you're ready."

Isabel turned slowly to the doctor. "What is it?"

"Did you know that Eva was pregnant?"

Isabel hesitated before nodding curiously. She had forgotten all about that in the chaos of emergency calls, mid-night flights, and flat-lining heart monitors. Eva wasn't due for another two months or so. Where was the baby? "Is the baby… is it dead?"

"We were forced to perform an emergency cesarean upon your sister's arrival; it was the only way to try to save the baby's life. The baby is in neonatal intensive care and we have her stabilized. If she survives, she's going to need a family."

Isabel was silent for several moments processing. "Where is it?"

"I'll take you to her if you'd like."

"Please."

Several minutes later they were in labor and delivery standing in front of the nursery window. Doctor Hensley pointed to the far back corner where a nurse was keeping a vigilant eye on a baby in an incubator. "That's her. Right now, she's just Baby Vega," he was whispering for some reason. Isabel stared at the baby, knowing that this was all that remained of her sister. "Let me go get the doctor." Isabel continued to stare as if she hadn't heard him. Several moments later she was startled as a hand touched her arm. "Mrs. Reyes, this is Doctor Baldwin. She performed the C-section in the emergency room," Hensley explained. "I apologize for having to run, but they need me down in the ER. Doctor Baldwin will be able to answer your questions."

As Hensley retreated back down the hallway, Isabel turned to the new doctor. "Is she going to live?"

Doctor Baldwin shook her head. "It's hard to tell right now. She's very small, very premature. We're watching her closely, though." Baldwin paused. "Would you like a closer look? We can't let you hold her, but you can go in." At Isabel's nod, Baldwin led her through the nursery door and instructed her to put on scrubs and gloves. She then led Isabel into the NICU and bent over the incubator with her. Isabel stared. That's all she could do. "She needs a name," Baldwin said, smiling. "We can't call her Baby Vega forever."

Isabel swallowed, trying to find her voice. She and Eva had been discussing baby names recently and she tried to pull up the names that she liked. Closing her eyes, she thought hard about that conversation. "Monica," Isabel said, suddenly. "Eva liked the name Monica for a girl. Monica Michelle." Isabel smiled. "She was trying to give her an Americanized name."

"Monica," Baldwin said, nodding approvingly. "Is that what you'd like to put on the official record?"

"Me?" Baldwin nodded and Isabel was silent for a moment. "Put…put Monica Reyes-Delgado."

"Reyes?" Baldwin asked. "Not Vega?"

Isabel nodded. "She has to have a family, Doctor. I have to take her."

"Mrs. Reyes, there's a process…"

"I'll do it," Isabel said, her eyes remaining locked on the baby below her. "Whatever it takes."


End file.
